1. Field of the Invention
Lighting devices such as flashlights are frequently required to emit light of more than one color. These color changing lighting devices permit their operator to select any of several distinct colors of emitted light.
Color changing lighting devices are required to be efficient in creating light and efficient in concentrating the light into a desired beam pattern. Led emitters are highly efficient sources of light available in a multiplicity of colors and typically emit their light in a hemispherical pattern. Light concentrating lenses are used to condense the hemispherical light from led emitters into a concentrated light beam. Light concentrating lenses such as catadioptric lenses are well known devices employed to efficiently concentrate light into a concentrated beam.
2. Prior Art
Color changing lighting devices have in prior art included an incandescent lamp with its color changed by covering the lamp with any one of a plurality of color filters. This design is not efficient.
Led light emitters have been employed with large catadioptric lens to create efficient flashlights with high intensity concentrated light beams. In order to maximize the efficiency of the device and collect all of the light emitted by the led emitter the large catadioptric lens is made to fill the entire hemisphere above the led emitter. In these designs, the led emitters usually include a substantially spherical dome which, in order to maximize the light collected, extends into a large catadioptric lens. The large size of the catadioptric lens relative to the led emitter is desirable because this assures efficient control of the light being concentrated. These prior art led designs emit a concentrated light beam of only one color with that color determined by the color emitted by the led emitter. An efficient prior art design could be created to emit a plurality of colors, however, this would require a plurality of large catadioptric lens each with a dedicated led emitter of a different color at its focal point. The plurality of large catadioptric lenses would make the design bulky and expensive both of which are undesirable. Bulky lighting devices are more easily damaged, difficult to hold and more costly to store and ship.                Prior art has not produced a color changing lighting device which is compact and highly efficient.        Prior art has not produced a color changing lighting device which uses a single catadioptric lens to concentrate light of different colors emitted by a plurality of led emitters.        Prior art positions the led emitter very close to the lens to maximize efficiency leaving no predetermined clearance for unencumbered relative lateral movement.        Prior art does not concentrate a plurality of visually identifiable discrete colors using a single catadioptric lens.        Prior art does not provide a switching system to energize the led when the led is at the focal or light concentrating point of the lens and to extinguish the led when it is away from the focal point.        Prior art does not provide a color changer mechanism to move a single catadioptic lens relative to a plurality of led emitters.        Prior art does not provide a catadioptric lens to concentrate the light from each color of a plural color led emitter.        
3. Objects and Advantages
The objects and advantages of the present invention are:                to provide a lighting device which employs a moveable color changer which can be used to select any one of a plurality of emitted colors or to select an off mode.        to provide an efficient lighting device which is compact, can emit a plurality of colors and is less expensive to manufacture than prior art.        to provide an efficient lighting device which can emit a plurality of colors, is easier to hold and easier to direct than prior art.        to provide an efficient lighting device which employs a single light concentrating catadioptric lens to efficiently concentrate the light from any one of a plurality of led emitters each of a different color.        to provide a high efficiency lighting device which permits the user to move a component such as a color changer to an indexing position and thereby activate a switch to energize a led emitter of a first color while simultaneously moving a lens to a light concentrating position about the led emitter so that the emitted light of the led emitter is efficiently concentrated into a light beam. The user can additionally move the color changer to a second indexing position and thereby activate a second switch to energize a second led emitter of a second color while simultaneously moving the lens to a light concentrating position about the second LED emitter so that its emitted light is concentrated into a light beam.        to provide a lighting device which includes a switching means for each of a plurality of led emitters of distinct colors to energize each led emitter as it is positioned at a light concentrating point of a light concentrating catadioptric lens and to extinguish the led emitter as it is moved from the light concentrating point.        to provide a lighting device having a light concentrating catadioptric lens at a predetermined clearance distance from each of a plurality of led emitters permitting relative lateral unencumbered movement to selectively position each led emitter at a light concentrating point of the lens.        